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Acceptance of quick-response (QR) codes--those square bar codes
that connect consumers to a website, video or special offer--is
increasing at a rapid clip. Digital market research firm comScore
found that roughly 20.1 million people scanned QR codes with their
phones in a three-month average period ending October 2011, vs.
14 million in June 2011. As the technology grows more
popular--and websites such as Delivr.com, qrcode.kaywa.com and QRStuff.com make it easy for even
small-business owners to get onboard by generating QR codes
for free--placement and functionality of the technology is
getting more creative. Here's how a few 'treps are putting
them to use.

Scans into leads
When WebiMax, a Mount Laurel, N.J.-based search engine
optimization firm, placed its first QR code on a banner at the
2011 Search Marketing Expo in New York, company founder Ken
Wisnefski was impressed that it was scanned by 250 people. That
led him to refine his QR strategy to track people who arrived at
the company's website via seminars, trade shows or marketing
materials. WebiMax has also embedded its e-mail within the code,
so scanners can immediately contact the sales department.

QR-logo mashup
With the release of each new book, LJS&S Publishing in
Orlando, Fla., plants QR codes on posters, mugs, yo-yos and
T-shirts to help market the work. For the company's new
science-fiction thriller The Immune by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer,
the company went one step further and inserted an image adapted
from the book's cover into the center of the QR code. The code
became both a graphic illustration and a working link to the
book's website.

Bumper stickers
Mike Podlesny of Burlington, N.J., experimented with a QR code on
a bumper sticker to promote his gardening business, Mike the
Gardener Enterprises. The code links to his "Seeds of the Month"
YouTube video. Podlesny offered the free sticker to fans on his
Facebook page--4,000 requests and counting--and the video has
since notched 1,200 views.

One-stop connection
Gina Freize, founder of Venissimo Cheese, which has four Southern
California locations, uses QR codes as a way for people to
quickly subscribe to the company's Facebook page, online
newsletter and to each individual store's Twitter feed. Freize
says the codes brought approximately 100 new contacts and
subscribers to her customer database within six months.